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Scientific Reports Sep 2023This study aimed to assess the impact of a commercial blend of functional oils, specifically cashew nutshell liquid and castor oil (FO), in two physical forms (solid: P;...
This study aimed to assess the impact of a commercial blend of functional oils, specifically cashew nutshell liquid and castor oil (FO), in two physical forms (solid: P; liquid: S), in comparison to a combination of virginiamycin and anticoccidials on the gut health of broilers challenged with coccidiosis. A total of 1760 1-day-old male chicks were randomly distributed in a study design with eight treatments. The treatments included: a control group (without additive), OFS_0.75_kg/t (FO spray), OFP_1.0_kg/t (FO powder), OFP_1.5_kg/t (FO liquid spray), Sal (anticoccidials), Sal_Vir (virginiamycin and anticoccidials), Sal_OFS_0.5_ kg/t (anticoccidials plus FO spray), and Sal_OFP_1.0_kg/t (anticoccidials plus FO powder). All birds were challenged with Eimeria spp. at 14 days. The physical form of FO did not affect performance and intestinal health parameters. At 42 days, broilers from the control and OFS_0.75 treatments were the lightest, while those from the Sal_Vir and Sal_OFP_1.0 treatments were the heaviest (P < 0.05). FO reduced the presence of Clostridium perfringens. The individual phytogenic additives did not prevent weight loss in birds challenged with Eimeria, but they mitigated the effects of the infection by modulating the intestinal microbiota. A synergistic effect was observed between the FO and anticoccidials, yielding satisfactory results in substituting virginiamycin.
Topics: Male; Animals; Chickens; Eimeria; Powders; Castor Oil; Virginiamycin
PubMed: 37670021
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41743-9 -
Journal of Applied Microbiology Jan 2021This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with a mixture of Bacillus, which serves as an alternative of antibiotics on the...
AIMS
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with a mixture of Bacillus, which serves as an alternative of antibiotics on the intestinal ecosystem of weaned piglets.
METHODS AND RESULTS
We randomly assigned 120 piglets to three groups: a control group (a basal diet), a probiotics group (a basal diet supplemented with 4 × 10 CFU per gram Bacillus licheniformis-Bacillus subtilis mixture; BLS mix), and an antibiotics group (a basal diet supplemented with 0·04 kg t virginiamycin, 0·2 kg t colistin and 3000 mg kg zinc oxide). All groups had five replicates with eight piglets per replicate. On days 7, 21 and 42 of the trial, intestine tissue and digesta samples were collected to determine intestinal morphology, gut microbiota and bacterial metabolite composition, and the expression of genes related to the gut barrier function and inflammatory status. The results showed that the BLS mix decreased the jejunum crypt depth, while increased the ileum villus height and the jejunum and ileum villus height to crypt depth ratio. The BLS mix increased Simpson's diversity index in the gut microbiota and the relative abundances of o_Bacteroidetes and f_Ruminococcaceae, but decreased the relative abundances of Blautia and Clostridium. Dietary BLS mix supplementation also modified the concentration of several bacterial metabolites compared to the control group. In addition, BLS mix upregulated the expression level of E-cadherin in the colon and pro-inflammatory cytokines and TLR-4 in ileum and colon. Lastly, Spearman's rank-order correlation revealed a potential link between alterations in gut microbiota and health parameters of the weaned piglets.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that dietary BLS mix supplementation modifies the gut ecosystem in weaned piglets. The potential advantages of such modifications in terms of intestinal health are discussed.
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY
Weaning is the most important transition period of piglet growth and development. This study showed that dietary supplementation of a probiotic mixture of Bacillus, an effective alternative of antibiotics, was beneficial in improving the intestinal ecosystem of weaned piglets.
Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Bacillus; Bacteria; Diet; Dietary Supplements; Ecosystem; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Intestinal Mucosa; Intestines; Probiotics; Swine; Weaning
PubMed: 32654235
DOI: 10.1111/jam.14782 -
Frontiers in Veterinary Science 2024Feed additives such as monensin (MON) and virginiamycin (VM) are commonly utilized in feedlot diets to enhance rumen fermentation. Nevertheless, the precise effects of...
Feed additives such as monensin (MON) and virginiamycin (VM) are commonly utilized in feedlot diets to enhance rumen fermentation. Nevertheless, the precise effects of combining MON and VM during specific feedlot periods and the advantages of this combination remain unclear. This study was designed to investigate the effects of withdrawal of MON when associated with VM during the adaptation and finishing periods on ruminal metabolism, feeding behavior, and nutrient digestibility in Nellore cattle. The experimental design was a 5 × 5 Latin square, where each period lasted 28 days. Five rumen-cannulated Nellore yearling bulls were used (414,86 ± 21,71 kg of body weight), which were assigned to five treatments: (1) MON during the entire feeding period; (2) VM during the entire feeding period; (3) MON + VM during the adaptation period and only VM during the finishing period 1 and 2; (4) MON + VM during the entire feeding period; (5) MON + VM during the adaptation and finishing period 1 and only VM during the finishing period 2. For the finishing period 1, animals fed T3 had improved potential degradability of dry matter ( = 0.02). Cattle fed T3 and T5 had the highest crude protein degradability when compared to animals receiving T2 ( = 0.01). Animals fed T2 and T3 had reduced the time ( < 0.01) and area under pH 6.2 ( = 0.02). Moreover, animals fed T4 had greater population of protozoa from the genus ( = 0.04) when compared to those from animals fed T2, T3 and T5. For the finishing period 2, animals fed T3 had greater starch degradability when compared to animals receiving T4 and T5 ( = 0.04). Animals fed T3, T4 and T5 had increased the duration of time in which pH was below 5.6 ( = 0.03). The area under the curve for ruminal pH 5.2 and pH 5.6 was higher for the animals fed T3 ( = 0.01), and the area under pH 6.2 was higher for the animals fed T3 and T5 ( < 0.01) when compared to animals receiving T2. There is no substantial improvement on the rumen fermentation parameters by the concurrent utilization of MON and VM molecules, where the higher starch and protein degradability did not improve the rumen fermentation.
PubMed: 38605925
DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1325198 -
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Apr 2020L-phenylglycine (L-Phg) is a rare non-proteinogenic amino acid, which only occurs in some natural compounds, such as the streptogramin antibiotics pristinamycin I and...
L-phenylglycine (L-Phg) is a rare non-proteinogenic amino acid, which only occurs in some natural compounds, such as the streptogramin antibiotics pristinamycin I and virginiamycin S or the bicyclic peptide antibiotic dityromycin. Industrially, more interesting than L-Phg is the enantiomeric D-Phg as it plays an important role in the fine chemical industry, where it is used as a precursor for the production of semisynthetic β-lactam antibiotics. Based on the natural L-Phg operon from Streptomyces pristinaespiralis and the stereo-inverting aminotransferase gene hpgAT from Pseudomonas putida, an artificial D-Phg operon was constructed. The natural L-Phg operon, as well as the artificial D-Phg operon, was heterologously expressed in different actinomycetal host strains, which led to the successful production of Phg. By rational genetic engineering of the optimal producer strains S. pristinaespiralis and Streptomyces lividans, Phg production could be improved significantly. Here, we report on the development of a synthetic biology-derived D-Phg pathway and the optimization of fermentative Phg production in actinomycetes by genetic engineering approaches. Our data illustrate a promising alternative for the production of Phgs.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Fermentation; Genes, Bacterial; Genetic Engineering; Glycine; Operon; Pseudomonas putida; Stereoisomerism; Streptomyces; Streptomyces lividans; Synthetic Biology
PubMed: 32078019
DOI: 10.1007/s00253-020-10447-9 -
Microorganisms Jul 2019Necrotic enteritis (NE) continues to present major challenges to the poultry industry, and the etiologic agent is the fourth leading cause of bacterially-induced...
Necrotic enteritis (NE) continues to present major challenges to the poultry industry, and the etiologic agent is the fourth leading cause of bacterially-induced food- borne illnesses in the US. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of a probiotic during naturally occurring NE. On day of hatch, 1080 Cobb 500 male broilers were randomly allocated to three groups (12 replicate pens/treatment, 30 birds/pen) including 1) negative control (NC): corn-soybean meal diet; 2) positive control (PC): NC + 20 mg virginiamycin/kg diet (0.450 kg Stafac20/ton); and 3) NC + PrimaLac (1.36 and 0.91 kg/ton from 1-21 and 22-42 days, respectively). One day (d) post placement, all birds were challenged by a commercial live oocyst coccidia vaccine as a predisposing factor to NE. Body weight and feed intake were measured at the onset of NE (d 8) and end of each feeding phase. On d 8, small intestines of two birds/pen were examined for NE lesions, and jejunum samples from one bird were collected for mRNA gene expression analysis of tight junction proteins, cytokines, and nutrient transporters. Data were analyzed using the Jump (JMP) software and significance between treatments identified by LSD ( < 0.05). Compared to NC, supplementation of probiotic reduced d 1-42 mortality; however, PC was the only group with significantly lower mortality. Despite significantly improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) in PC and probiotic groups during d 1-42, average daily gain was only higher in PC (77.69 g/bird) compared with NC (74.99 g/bird). Furthermore, probiotic and PC groups had significantly reduced lesion scores in the duodenum and jejunum compared to NC. Expression of claudin-3 was higher, while expression of zonula occluden-2 tended ( 0.06) to be higher in probiotic-supplemented birds compared to NC. Moreover, birds fed the probiotic diet had significantly higher expression of IL-10, IL-17, AMPK-α1, and SGLT1 mRNA compared to NC birds. The expression of PepT1 was higher for the probiotic-supplemented group compared to PC. IFN-γ expression was lower in PC compared to NC, while there was no difference between probiotic and NC. There were no differences in gene expression of sIgA, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-22 among treatments. Collectively, these data indicate that in a naturally occurring NE model, supplementation of a probiotic helps to improve FCR and reduce lesions, potentially due to the improvements in mRNA expression of tight junctions, cytokines, and nutrient transporters.
PubMed: 31370350
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms7080231 -
Tropical Animal Health and Production Dec 2023The present study evaluated the effects of supplementing VM in grazing cattle during the rearing phase on performance and carcass quality of beef cattle in the finishing...
The present study evaluated the effects of supplementing VM in grazing cattle during the rearing phase on performance and carcass quality of beef cattle in the finishing phase. Two experiments with a randomized block design were conducted in consecutive years to contrast two post-weaning supplementation strategies using VM at 45 mg/100 kg body weight (BW). In the first year, treatments were protein supplement in the dry season and mineral supplement in the rainy season versus the addition of VM both in the protein and mineral supplements. In the second year, was contrasted with protein supplement in the dry season and protein-energy supplement in the rainy season. Performance, carcass traits, and carcass quality were evaluated at the end of both phases. In Year 1, adding VM in mineral supplement increased final backfat thickness (P=0.05), backfat gain (P=0.06), final rump fat thickness (P=0.02), and rump fat gain (P=0.01). In the finishing phase, VM-treated cattle had a greater dry matter intake (P=0.03) and tended to show a greater backfat thickness than non-treated cattle (P=0.07). In Year 2, no VM effects were observed on post-weaning phase performance and carcass traits. However, cattle-fed VM during the post-weaning phase tended to show a lower feed conversion ratio (P=0.09) and had a significantly higher gross feed efficiency (P=0.03) than non-treated cattle at slaughter. Virginiamycin supplementation during rearing on pasture improves performance and carcass fattening in the growth phase and has a residual effect in the finishing phase that may reflect greater backfat thickness and gross feed efficiency.
Topics: Animals; Cattle; Animal Feed; Body Composition; Diet; Dietary Supplements; Minerals
PubMed: 38102404
DOI: 10.1007/s11250-023-03860-5 -
Frontiers in Microbiology 2022Antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) are commonly used in broiler production. There is a huge societal concern around their use and their contribution to the...
Effects of Dietary Antimicrobial Growth Promoters on Performance Parameters and Abundance and Diversity of Broiler Chicken Gut Microbiome and Selection of Antibiotic Resistance Genes.
Antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) are commonly used in broiler production. There is a huge societal concern around their use and their contribution to the proliferation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in food-producing animals and dissemination to humans or the environment. However, there is a paucity of comprehensive experimental data on their impact on poultry production and the AMR resistome. Here, we investigated the effect of five antimicrobial growth promoters (virginiamycin, chlortetracycline, bacitracin methyl disalicylate, lincomycin, and tylosin) used in the commercial broiler production in the Indian subcontinent and in the different parts of the world for three consecutive production cycles on performance variables and also the impact on gut bacteria, bacteriophage, and resistome profile using culture-independent approaches. There was no significant effect of AGPs on the cumulative growth or feed efficiency parameters at the end of the production cycles and cumulative mortality rates were also similar across groups. Many antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were ubiquitous in the chicken gut irrespective of AGP supplementation. In total, 62 ARGs from 15 antimicrobial classes were detected. Supplementation of AGPs influenced the selection of several classes of ARGs; however, this was not correlated necessarily with genes relevant to the AGP drug class; some AGPs favored the selection of ARGs related to antimicrobials not structurally related to the AGP. AGPs did not impact the gut bacterial community structure, including alpha or beta diversity significantly, with only 16-20 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of bacteria being altered significantly. However, several AGPs significantly reduced the population density of some of the potential pathogenic genera of bacteria, such as . Chlortetracycline increased the abundance of phage, whereas other AGPs did not influence the abundance of bacteriophage significantly. Considering the evidence that AGPs used in poultry production can select for resistance to more than one class of antimicrobial resistance, and the fact that their effect on performance is not significant, their use needs to be reduced and there is a need to monitor the spread of ARGs in broiler chicken farms.
PubMed: 35783415
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.905050 -
Scientific Reports May 2023Actinobacteria are well known as a rich source of diversity of bioactive secondary metabolites. Kutzneria, a rare actinobacteria belonging to the family...
Actinobacteria are well known as a rich source of diversity of bioactive secondary metabolites. Kutzneria, a rare actinobacteria belonging to the family Pseudonocardiaceae has abundance of secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and is one of important source of natural products and worthy of priority investigation. Currently, Kutzneria chonburiensis SMC256 has been the latest type-strain of the genus and its genome sequence has not been reported yet. Therefore, we present the first report of new complete genome sequence of SMC256 (genome size of 10.4 Mbp) with genome annotation and feature comparison between SMC256 and other publicly available Kutzneria species. The results from comparative and functional genomic analyses regarding the phylogenomic and the clusters of orthologous groups of proteins (COGs) analyses indicated that SMC256 is most closely related to Kutzneria sp. 744, Kutzneria kofuensis, Kutzneria sp. CA-103260 and Kutzneria buriramensis. Furthermore, a total of 322 BGCs were also detected and showed diversity among the Kutzneria genomes. Out of which, 38 clusters showing the best hit to the most known BGCs were predicted in the SMC256genome. We observed that six clusters responsible for biosynthesis of antimicrobials/antitumor metabolites were strain-specific in Kutzneria chonburiensis. These putative metabolites include virginiamycin S1, lysolipin I, esmeraldin, rakicidin, aclacinomycin and streptoseomycin. Based on these findings, the genome of Kutzneria chonburiensis contains distinct and unidentified BGCs different from other members of the genus, and the use of integrative genomic-based approach would be a useful alternative effort to target, isolate and identify putative and undiscovered secondary metabolites suspected to have new and/or specific bioactivity in the Kutzneria.
Topics: Actinomycetales; Genomics; Secondary Metabolism; Multigene Family; Phylogeny
PubMed: 37258607
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36039-x -
Journal of AOAC International Sep 2021Antibiotics are used in ethanol production to discourage the growth of bacteria that would lower the yield of the product. Any antibiotic residues remaining in...
BACKGROUND
Antibiotics are used in ethanol production to discourage the growth of bacteria that would lower the yield of the product. Any antibiotic residues remaining in distillers grain (DG) co-product could lead to antimicrobial resistance, which is a public health concern. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) previously developed an LC-MS/MS analytical method to detect residues of erythromycin A, penicillin G, virginiamycin M1, and virginiamycin S1 in DG to enable regulatory decision making.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to ensure the method's robustness by carrying out a multi-laboratory validation of the method.
METHOD
Test portions were extracted with a mixture of acetonitrile and buffer. The extract was cleaned by solid phase extraction. The concentrated eluant was reconstituted and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Eight laboratories participated in the study.
RESULTS
Average accuracies for the combined three matrixes for all four compounds at all fortification levels ranged from 83->109% with repeatability relative standard deviation (RSDr; within laboratory) ≤17% and reproducibility relative standard deviation (RSDR; between laboratory) ≤21%. The Horwitz ration (HorRat) values ranged 0.4-1.0 indicating that method reproducibility is acceptable.
CONCLUSIONS
An interlaboratory study was successfully conducted to evaluate an LC-MS/MS method for the determination of the drugs of interest in DG. The results demonstrate that the method is fit for purpose to determine the drugs in DG and could serve as a regulatory method capable of being used for compliance actions for DG containing these antibiotic contaminants.
HIGHLIGHTS
The method was posted to the FDA/Foods Program Compendium of Analytical Laboratory Methods.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Chromatography, Liquid; Penicillin G; Reproducibility of Results; Tandem Mass Spectrometry
PubMed: 33774675
DOI: 10.1093/jaoacint/qsab026 -
Scientifica 2020The aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological, zootechnical, and environmental benefits of the use of growth-promoting virginiamycin in the pirarucu diet. The...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the physiological, zootechnical, and environmental benefits of the use of growth-promoting virginiamycin in the pirarucu diet. The research was conducted at the Carlos Eduardo Matiazze Fish Center, Federal University of Rondônia. In this study, 96 pirarucu fish were distributed in excavated nursery, divided into two treatment groups, control (0.0 mg kg) and treatment (75.0 mg kg) of feed with virginiamycin, with 8 replications in a completely randomized design. With virginiamycin being incorporated into commercial feed, for 107 days of cultivation, the fish were slaughtered with an average weight of 9.18 kg. Carcass weight, flesh, residues, and internal organs/guts were evaluated to calculate slaughter yields, Spearman's correlation, and subsequently regression. For the quantification of micronuclei, a count of 1,000 cells per blade was determined. The means of the results obtained were contrasted by the Student's -test ( = 0.05). Virginiamycin did not cause oscillations in the limnological variables of the nursery but could reduce micronucleated erythrocytes. The average yields in carcass, flesh, and waste were 67.43, 53.4, and 43.14%, respectively. Virginiamycin provided strong correlations ( ) for better productive yields and lower slaughter residue. The hepatosomatic index indicated a strong relationship between liver weight and fat. Virginiamycin may be recommended for fish farming in pirarucu fattening because it contributes to the productive efficiency and sustainability of the fish farm system.
PubMed: 32509374
DOI: 10.1155/2020/5953720